


Take my hand

by Gaia_bing



Category: Spartacus Series (TV), Spartacus: Vengeance, Spartacus: War of the Damned
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Cop!Nasir, Drama, Empath, M/M, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Attempt (mention), Superpowers, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-04 09:25:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1774078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Looks like we've got ourselves a jumper." Varro said over the intercom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The call

**Author's Note:**

> Brand new mini-series! Maybe two, three chapters at most for this one. Hope you guys enjoy! :)

_"9-1-1, what is the emergency?"_

"Yeah, hi. My name's Duro and my big brother's gone missing."

_"Sir, you do know that people have to wait at least twenty-four hours until they can legally declare a missing person to the authorities, right?"_

"Yeah, 'mam, I know that! He's been gone for like three days and nobody that I know of has heard from him since. And I think there's something wrong with him."

_"Well, sir, what makes you believe that?"_

"The last time I saw him three days ago, he was talking about hearing voices in his head."

_"Well, sir, does your brother have any history with mental problems? Like schizophrenia or..."_

"No, he hasn't, 'mam! My brother has always been 100% sane! But, that's not the weirdest past of it all..."

_"What is the weirdest part, sir?"_

"Before he left to god-nowshere, he told me...he told me what I was thinking, precisely..."


	2. The cops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cops Nasir, Gannicus and Crixus are exchanging banter, seeing who's got a crush on whom and the likes, when...

"...and I keep telling you, that waitress totally wants me!" a blonde, pony-tailed wearing man said from his spot inside the diner, where the cops team had gone to get a late meal.

"Oh, please! You and I both know she wouldn't be interested in you even if you were the last guy on the entire planet!" another man, this one adorning a slight beard and also sporting long hair but in the darker variety, replied while munching on his much-awaited muffin.

"What, and you think you're all that!? Let me remind you of an incident involving you, a certain fellow cop named Naevia and an entire cup of coffee that splashed straight onto her lap that happened, oh I don't know, just yesterday morning! So yeah, don't try to over-Casanova me, mister!" the blonde man, named Gannicus, retorted with a sneer.

"It doesn't have to do with any of that, okay? I apologized and she and I are totally cool now! It's just so totally obvious that that girl totally doesn't want you, it practically screams from here!" the dark haired one, named Crixus, said while taking a sip of his thankfully still full cup of coffee.

"Oh, like you know anything!" cried out the blonde haired man.

"Well, I do know something and let me tell you, Gannicus, from what I'm feeling from her, she's more disgusted by your pick-up lines than interested, that's for sure." a third man, adorning a black cap over his head and fresh from a trip to the bathroom, exclaimed as he approached the pair and sat down at their table.

Crixus pointed at the intruding man, this one named Nasir, and said with a broad smile: "See, what did I tell 'ya? Good thing we've got an empath on our team to set the facts straight, huh?"

"Ah! Goddamnit!" cried out Gannicus, pouting like a five year-old and crossing his arms dejectedly.

Nasir looked at his colleague sympathetically and, with a pat on the back and a pointing finger, replied: "Well, that one right there might not be interested, but that blonde over there? With the name "Saxa" over her bosom? She's been just exuding wanton ever since you said hi to her when we came in. So, I say your best chance to score tonight is with that one, not with that "Ilythia" lady over there."

"Oh, really?" said Gannicus, his face once again perking up.

"Yes, re-" Nasir started to say, but any talk about waitresses and who was interested in whom and scoring was going to have to wait, because suddenly, over their radio...

 _"Units! Calling all units! We've got a 10-56A, possibly related to a 10-57! Please respond!"_   their chief, Varro, called out.

All three men looked at one another, gave themselves a little nod, each putting a twenty on top of the diner table and left in quite in a hurry to get to their respective cars, Gannicus and Crixus entering one, while Nasir entered the other.

"This is Sergeant Gannicus responding, what's the scoop?" the blonde haired man said.

 _"A man is presently standing on the rooftop of the Capua City Bank, for the last fifteen minutes or so. He's about 6 feet tall, has short dark hair and is wearing a brown leather jacket. Witnesses have described him as hysterical, but non-threatening to none other than himself. Gentlemen, it looks like we've got ourselves a jumper."_   Varro said over the intercom, while the three policemen started their cars and zoomed out of the diner area.

Crixus took the radio out of Gannicus' hand and said: "Roger! Nasir, since you're the expert on this particular matter, you'll take care of him while me and Gannicus make up a security perimeter downstairs, alright?"

"Got it! But, out of curiosity, how does this relate to a possible 10-57?" Nasir asked his chief.

"We believe that the man in question is in fact Agron Schmidt, missing for the past week or so." Varro responded.

This revelation made Nasir's breath cut short. Agron Schmidt? The guy that they'd been looking for? The guy that had supposedly read his brother's thoughts before going missing?

The guy that Nasir had developed a serious crush on just by looking at his picture?

Could it be? Was Nasir finally going to meet someone just like him that also lived in this town?

Another "Gifted"?


	3. Take my hand...will you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet who's on the roof and will Nasir arrive in time before that person takes the final leap?

He just wanted it to stop. All of it.

The screaming, the anger, the fear, the pain.

Oh _god_ , so much _pain_.

He heard it all, from everyone that he met without wanting to, everywhere that he went, every seconds of every minute of every day for the past four weeks and **It. Just. Wouldn't. Stop.**

Knocking himself out hadn't done the trick, drinking himself to oblivion hadn't done anything either. Nothing was working and never before has silence ever been wanted by someone and seemed so far out of reach.

It also didn't help his mental state that he hadn't had one second of sleep in a whole month.

All of that...because of the voices that he was hearing. These thoughts that he could sense.

It had all started so simply. One day, a month earlier, he had bumped into a woman while walking down the street. While helping her up and apologizing, the woman had seemed fine and was even smiling.

But, after turning around, that's when he heard it...

_"Jerk."_

Doing a 180, he had spun around and asked the lady that he'd just bumped into with a frown:

"What did you just say?"

The woman, seemingly confused by his attitude, had just shrugged her shoulders and had replied:

"I'm sorry sir, but I didn't say anything!"

Shaking his head, he was about to apologize once again, when all of a sudden, he heard her say, without her moving her lips:

_"Stupid jackass."_

And that's when the confusion began. How...how could he hear her voice, when she wasn't speaking?

And, as he glanced around at the passerbys strolling down the sidewalk and down the street, just like a running faucet, the thoughts of everyone around him began to trickle inside his ears and make their way inside his brain...

_"Hmm, I wonder who's going to win tonight's game."_

_"Should I buy myself a pair of shoes or a new sweater?"_

_"Is it too much to ask for sunny side eggs these days?"_

_"My parents are such assholes."_  
 _"Stupid red lights keep getting in the way"_  
 _"My girlfriend's going to kill me if I come home late."_  
 _"I look so fat in that skirt, it's not even funny." "My sister's going to get beat up by her new boyfriend tonight, I just know it." "I really wish I had taken that abortion instead of being stuck raising you." "I hate you, I wished you were dead." "I hate myself, I don't want to be like this anymore." "Why can't you hear me, I'm right here!" "Just let me go already, I'm not your slave!" "Everybody should just go die inside a ditch for all I care!"_

**"SHUT UP! EVERYONE! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"** he had yelled as he covered his ears with his hands, unable to hear anything anymore. Everyone around him had stopped whatever they had been down, had looked at him funny and then, he heard them all say, without any of them moving their lips to do so:

_"Who's that creep?"_

_"Why is he looking at me like that?"_

_"Is that guy crazy or something?"_

_"Looks like someone hasn't taken his meds today!"_

~~_"Freak."_ ~~

_"Lunatic."_

**_"Freak."_ **

_"'Should be wrapped up in a straight jacket."_

_"Freak."_

Screaming once again, that's when he took a dash down the street, ran to his apartment and locked himself inside for a whole month. Not even a visit from his brother had helped him out. In fact, it had only made things so much worse.  
It had been when Duro had looked at him while he had been rambling on and on and said:

"What's going on Agron? Why are you acting like this?"

And when he had heard his baby brother think instead:

_"Good god, am I going to have to get you locked up or something?"_

That Agron had had enough. Had enough of everything, of everyone. And so, before dashing his way out the door once again, he had turned around and had simply responded:

"No, you won't have to get me locked up, because I won't be a problem to anyone anymore."

And then he had disappeared into the night, not to be seen for another week. before reappearing where he was now...

On the ledge of the _"Capua City Bank"_   building rooftop.

About to jump.

About to end it all.

About to get some tranquility at last.

And since living didn't want to give it to him...

Then maybe _dying_ would do the trick.

Raising his arms and closing his eyes, 25 year-old Agron Schmidt was about to make the final leap, when...

He heard a door behind him open and a voice call out:

_"No! Don't!"_

This somehow brought Agron out of his dark thoughts and, stabilizing himself on the ledge, the short haired man opened his eyes and turned around.

There, standing near the rooftop door that he himself had broke into just fifteen minutes earlier, was a long haired man wearing a black cap. His brown eyes were looking at him in alarm, one of his hands was raised and he was wearing all black all over his body.

"Wh-who...who are you?" Agron called out.

"My name's Nasir. I'm a cop. You're Agron Schmidt, right? We've been looking all over for you. I'm here to help you out." the stranger said with a small smile.

"Well, thanks but no thanks, alright? I don't need help, I'm perfectly fine." Agron responded with a scowl.

"No, no, you're not fine. You're far from fine because otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here, in the middle of the night, on the top of a ledge, about to jump to your death, now would you?" Nasir said and he tried to take a minuscule step toward the taller man, but Agron quickly caught him.

"Don't take another step, motherfucker, or I swear there's not going to be anything left from me but a pair of sneakers and a bloody pancake to scrape up from the pavement!" Agron yelled out, his despair hitting Nasir so hard that he stopped dead in his tracks and looked on as the other man was waving his whole body dangerously back and forth between the inner and outer side of the rooftop.

The cop raised his hands up in submission and replied: "Alright, alright, you win. I won't take another step, but I just want to talk to you, alright?"

Sighing, Agron nodded his head, but still stood at the top of the ledge as he said: "Okay, but you're just delaying the inevitable here. Because as soon as we're done talking, I'm still going to do what I came here to do."

"Oh yeah? And what did you come here to do?" Nasir asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Finally get some peace." Agron answered somberly.

"Peace? Peace from what?" Nasir asked, his other eyebrow joining his first.

"You...you wouldn't understand." Agron replied while putting his hands in his pockets.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you try me?" Nasir asked once more.

And sighing once more, Agron ran a hand through his hair and responded:

"You're going to think that I should be locked up if I tell you."

"That what? That you're hearing other people's thoughts? That you feel like you're going to go crazy if you don't get just one minute to yourself? That you feel alone, so alone, that no one can understand what you're going through, because they're not going through it as well? That you just want everybody to leave you alone and leave you be? That you think that the world would be better off without a freak like you and you would be better off without the pain of the world on you shoulders? Yeah, you can say I might understand what you didn't want to tell me." Nasir replied.

Agron looked down at him, astonished. "How...how did you...?" he asked.

Sensing a crack opening up in Agron's dark emotional shield, Nasir silently took a step further toward the other man and looked up at him with a sigh as he replied:

"Because I know a bit too well what you're going through, Agron. I was just like you, over three years ago. I woke up one day and I could sense everybody else's emotions. It was like...it was like they were passing right through me and I felt whatever anybody else was feeling at the time: their joy, their sadness, their anger, their fear and gosh, all of their pain. No matter what I did, whenever I was around someone and even when I was alone, I sensed it.

And It. Just. Wouldn't. Stop. It went on for weeks; I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think and the most scary of all, I couldn't feel. I just became a shell that kept getting pelted by everybody else's feelings and I couldn't feel any of my own anymore. And after three weeks of all of that, I just couldn't take it anymore. So...on my eighteenth birthday..."

Agron looked down at the confessing man and asked in a whisper:

"What...what did you do?"

And that's when Nasir showed him, the one thing that he hadn't showed anybody else he had tried to save in other suicide attempts and had only showed to the people that were the closest to him...

The deep scars across the both of his wrists.

"You...you...?" asked once again Agron, his face blanching and radiating fear at the presence of what the other man had tried to do.

"If my roommate hadn't come home from her date earlier than expected, I probably wouldn't be here talking to you right now. When I woke up, two blood transfusions later, and after a swift talking about what I'd done from Chadara, that's my roommate by the way, she told me about her research after seeing how I was: we are not alone, you and I, Agron. There are hundreds throughout the world that are just like us, born with gifts others don't have. Normal people only use 10% of their brains, while we have the capacity to use more. Some have these abilities the day that they're born and some have it at a later age, like you and I did.

And that's what they call us, "The Gifted". Not mutants, not crazies, not lunatics and especially not freaks. These powers that we have, they can be controlled, even though it doesn't seem it like it at first. Some can control them from the get go, but some who can't do it at first, like you and I, with some help and with a little bit of time, can also achieve that. And that's what I'm offering you, Agron: help.

There are centers all around the world, where good and kind people help people like us master our abilities so that we can use them to their full potential. And after they receive the help that they need, they are let go and they can do whatever they want with their lives, with no strings attached. All you have to do is take my hand and I promise that I'm going to help you as much as I can. I know that you're scared, I can feel it so much coming off from you, but you'll just have to trust me, alright?" Nasir offered while extending his hand toward the taller man with a reassuring smile.

"But...but what if you're lying? What if this is all just a ruse to get me down from up here and you're going to lock me up somewhere or even worse, you and your boys are going to dissect me, because you wanna know why I'm like this?" Agron said with frightened eyes.

"We're not in the _"X-Men"_   movies, Agron, We're not aliens, either. Nobody's going to lock you up or cut you down, you don't have to worry about any of that. But, if you don't trust what I say, let me ask you this: in all of the time that we've been talking, whose thoughts have you heard, when there's maybe dozens of people down on the pavement looking at the both of us right now?" Nasir asked the other man with once again raised eyebrows.

Agron looked down at the ground from where he was standing and that's when he realized: he had in fact hadn't heard anything ever since the cop had interrupted his jump. All of these people...all of these thoughts that he could have heard all this time and the only thoughts that he'd heard were...

His own. About how truly beautiful Nasir's eyes really were.

And as for the cop's own thoughts...all that he heard was the sound of crashing waves.

"It was because your mind was focused on something that you didn't hear anything. This is how I live without going completely insane myself. I myself went to a center just like I spoke about after I almost died and it took a lot of time and a lot of practice, but yeah, I did end up mastering my own abilities by choosing who and what I wanted to feel and see.

And the way to do all of that? By creating a mental wall inside my head so that unwanted things don't come and take over me.

And yeah, sometimes I still slip up, but there's something that I keep telling myself over and over whenever that happens, so that I don't go back to the state of mind that I had on my eighteenth birthday." Nasir explained.

"Oh? And what's that?" Agron asked with curious eyes.

Nasir smiled and looking down at the on-lookers, he simply replied:

"That despite all of the pain, despite all of the anger and despite all of the sadness that this world might contain, there's still so much joy, so much beauty and so much love inside everything that I don't want to separate myself from it. And most of all, there are so much people that love us, no matter who we are or what we become that we would end up hurting them if we hurt ourselves.

So, I ask you this Agron: can you trust me and with a little bit of patience and a whole lot of help, together we'll make you an even better person than you could ever be, or do you want to continue the jump that you were going to do before I came in and give everything up and hurt everybody that loves you because you're too afraid to do anything else?"

He extended his hand once again and waited for Agron's answer.

********************

Downstairs, on the pavement, Duro was pacing back and forth, wondering what was taking so long.

Just what was going on up there? Was it really Agron on the rooftop of the bank? Did he really want to kill himself? Why would he-

His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, out of the bank's front door, came accompanied by a long haired man wearing a black cap, his dishelved and frail looking big brother.

"Coming through, coming through! Nothing to see here! This man needs to be taken to the hospital for malnutrition and sleep deprivation!" called out Nasir to the on-lookers, trying his best to dissipate the gathered crowd as they walked toward an awaiting ambulance.

Duro began to race after the pair, making both men stop.

"Agron? Agron!"

The taller man turned around and with tears in his eyes and an gentle nod from pretty much his savior, Agron took a couple of steps forward and was engulfed tightly inside his baby brother's arms. And the two of them sobbed like little babies, the taller one whispering apologies over and over for his actions and the smaller one responding that he didn't need apologies, just knowing that the other was okay was enough for him.

And so, as the now trio went toward the ambulance and with the promise that Agron would get the help he needed to live a proper life, while also dealing with his new-found abilities, Nasir received from the taller man the greatest gift that anyone could receive in a situation like this and for once, he felt quite lucky to have the ability to sense what others were feeling:

A wave of gratitude coming from Agron.


	4. Two years later...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How are Agron and Nasir doing two years down the line?

"...and I keep telling you! That Sybyl chick totally wants me!" Gannicus said as the now four-men team were busy gulfing down a late dinner inside a familiar diner, this time on a much deserved night off.

"Oh, please, with the way she's been giving you funny looks all night, I highly doubt that." Crixus said while eating his favorite chocolate muffin, his wedding band shining slightly into the neon light.

"Well, why don't we settle this once and for all? Nasir, Agron, what do you guys think? Guys? Huh, guys?" Gannicus said as he took a gander at his adjacent cops team that were sitting over the next table, making goggeley eyes at one another and laughing together.

 **"GUYS!"** he cried out once again.

The pair, adorning matching cop uniforms, broke away from their engrossing conversation and looked at their intruder.

"What is it this time, Gannicus?" Agron asked his now good friend with a sigh, laying his back against his diner chair.

"Yeah, what is it? You were interrupting a really funny story that Agron was telling me over here." Nasir said, pouting while crossing his arms.

"That brown haired waitress over there: is she interested in me or not?" the blonde haired man said, pointing over to where the said woman was busy filling up a piece of paper with orders.

Agron and Nasir looked at one another and then, with some focus...

" _Jesus!_   That girl is turned on likes there's no tomorrow." said Nasir with a wide eyes.

Agron pulled off the same face as he added: "Yeah, and don't ask me about what she wants to do to you in the backroom, yikes!"

"Alright! You know, having an empath **and** a telepath on the same team really is quite awesome, if I do say so myself." Gannicus exclaimed with a grin. And so, smiling wider and rubbing his hands together, the blonde cop saluted his three friends as he said: "Now if you'll excuse me, ladies, Uncle Gannie's got some backroom shenanigans to attend to."

And then he went on his way, leaving the other three men shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

Nasir ended up keeping his promise to Agron: he took a leave of absence from work and accompanied the taller man to one of the Center for the "Gifted" that resided just outside of the state, right after the short haired man had been released from the hospital. It had taken some time, but with perseverance and the help of the weekly visiting long haired man, Agron did in fact end up mastering his abilities while being there and accepted what he really was: not a freak, not a lunatic and certainly not someone that should give up on life, but a great person who was truly special.

And, the fact that he could still see his friends and family while being at the Center also helped a great deal toward his physical and mental recovery.

So, a year later, after getting out of the Center and feeling strong enough to do so, Agron did the one thing that Nasir hadn't expected him to do when he'd saved his life all that long ago: he showed up at the police station that Nasir was working at and applied for a job. He felt that just like Nasir, his abilities could help society be a better place and what a better place to do so than within the force of the law. And what a team he and Nasir turned out to be, always in sync no matter what they did. It was like they were made to form a duo, in more ways than one...

Almost at the same moment that Gannicus made his way toward the brunette waitress, Crixus' cell rang up. He picked up the call and Nasir and Agron could automatically tell that it was Naevia on the other end of the line, not by reading any emotions or any thoughts...

But by seeing Crixus gleeful face and hearing his annoying baby talk:

_"How's my boobilie doing? Are you excited for our alony-dovie time tonight? Hmm?"_

And with that, he himself got out of his chair, to continue his conversation with his wife outside of the diner, leaving the pair all alone once again.

Suddenly, the pop _musak_ that had been playing over the old juke-box all throughout the night switched to a much slower, much more romantic sounding song.

As they watched as other people around them gather two by two and begin to dance, Agron couldn't help himself, he got up from his seat, went toward his partner, his savior, his best friend, pretty much his everything and asked him while extending his hand:

"May I have this dance?"

Nasir, his cheeks flushing, gladly took Agron's hand inside his own and the two started to sway back and forth, in the middle of the other dancing couples.

 _"Hmm, this is nice."_   Nasir thought to himself as he leaned his head against Agron's shoulder.

"I know, right?" Agron whispered inside his love's ear and Nasir bathed inside the warmth that the taller man's love held for him.

 _"So, when do you think we should tell them? You know... about us?"_   the smaller man added inside his head.

Taking Nasir's hand inside his own and with a small smile, kissing one of his scarred wrists, Agron responded, before leaning in and letting the both of them get consumed by the fire that they held for one another:

"I'm sure they won't need either a telepath nor an empath to figure **that** one out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another one finished!
> 
> Next up: a brand new chapter of "The Honeymooners"! Oh yeah, I'm going back there! :D


End file.
